The night is yet
young. The rest of the world lies in slumber. A blanket of overbearing clouds
hangs overhead. The new moon casts a dark shadow over stirring seas. The
interminable howling of 40 knot winds and roaring of the ocean dim the senses.
Spray reduces bodies barely a metre away to barely distinguishable silhouettes.
Only the glow from angry bio-luminescent plankton offers a clue to that life
exists outside our vessel. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the North Atlantic.

As the intrepid
white watch forges their way through Mother Nature’s fury, the crew experiences
its first taste of what extreme sailing truly has to offer. This, however, has
done nothing to dampen morale. Humour has now reached all new lows.

During the last
48 hours, there has been enough wildlife spotting to produce an episode of The
Blue Planet. Sightings include many schools of dolphins, pilot whales and even
the distant sighting of a humpback whale.

Having completed
the last 2 days on watch, white watch now turns its efforts down below to
boosting crew morale with hearty food and insufferable humour.